As I Lay Me Down to Sleep
by TVGoddess
Summary: Ever since Alex's death and Liz's accusation of Tess, it has ben Mara and Liz vs. the Pod Squad. But when Liz starts having intense dreams and believes it's alien-related, no one but Maria believes her. Can they work together before things get worse?


_A/N: It's not my first fanfic, but it is my first Roswell fic. I didn't start watching the show until it was syndicated on the Sci-fi channel, and now I can't believe I never watched it! I'm always a Max/Liz kind of girl. I'm also a Michael/Maria and an Isabel/Kyle girl (I thought they looked so cute together). I started reading the books too. I major in English, so I have experience in writing stories. I welcome feedback. Hope y'all enjoy!_

_Note: My writing style is conversational and I don't write fics in a first person point of view. Whenever someone has a thought, it's italicized, it saves me the trouble of having to single-quote a thought or putting "he thought/she thought" every time a character thinks something._

**Summary: Ever since Alex's death and Liz's accusation, it has been Maria and Liz vs. the Pod Squad. But when Liz starts having intense dreams and believes it's alien-related, no one but Maria believes her. Can everyone come together in time before things get worse?**

Liz normally never walked outside alone when it was so late at night. She knew the town of Roswell like the back of her hand because she had grown up here. She knew every street, every residential face. But tourists came through this city so often; Liz avoided being outside by herself after hours. But tonight she was looking for something, or maybe someone. She didn't know where she was headed and only instinct told her which paths to follow. The air was cold and Liz had on a tank top and some jeans. Why didn't I bring a jacket?

Liz sharply turned the corner and headed for an empty warehouse on a corner lot. She knew this place. It used to be owned by a local tabloid. "The Unearthly Times" it was called. It went out of business a couple of years ago because of the outlandish stories. That shocked Liz. Usually the populace of Roswell loved everything UFO. There was not a single building in Roswell that didn't have some sort of alien theme. Even the floral boutique, Celestial Flowers, had aliens adorning the windows carrying a bouquet of daisies. There was no such thing as being "too out there" for Roswell. Roswell was as bizarre as you could get.

She opened the door of the building and went in. With the exception of a single light in the middle of the room, it was pitch-black. The light radiated down from the ceiling. Liz moved in closer to see what the figure standing in the luminosity was. It was Alex. Alex!

She ran to him and stopped abruptly when he crumpled to the ground. Behind him was Tess clutching a bloody knife and a sinister smile.

"No!" Liz screamed. She kneeled down next to Alex and shook him hard. She repeated his name. Still no answer. Tess took off running. Liz darted after her, catching up quickly. They disappeared off into the desert. Liz's lungs began to burn. Keep running, she willed herself. It was too dark and Liz had lost her. She looked around frantically everywhere. She had to find Tess. Time was running out.

Liz jerked up in bed so fast that she fell off. "Dammit," she mumbled to herself. She grabbed the clock off of the nightstand. It was 2 in the morning. She knew she wouldn't get back to sleep. She was so used to this routine that it wasn't even worth it to try. She pulled a denim jacket over her black tank top and put on some jeans. She grabbed her keys off her dresser and climbed out of her window. Liz got in her car and drove to school. If she wasn't going back to sleep, she might as well do something productive with her time. Her and Max had a Biology project together and Ms. Fordman gave Liz the keys to the science building in case Liz ever wanted to come in and work on the assignment. Liz was the top student in the class, in all of the classes. In fact, she was the top student in all of her classes. Every teacher trusted her and that worked to Liz's advantage. The assignment her and Max were doing was long and extensive. Often times, Liz would come in late at night like this and work on it. It was better to do it herself than in the presence of Max.

Max. Now that was a guy that could bring up some issues. Max and her were no longer the way they used to be. They used to be unbelievably close. But then Tess showed up. Tess, a leggy blue-eyed blonde from Antar had arrived almost a year ago. She knew of her origin and everyone else's origin and destiny. Everyone else being Max, Michael, and Isabel. Max's destiny happened to be with Tess. Tess was his wife from Antar. Well, his destined wife. Ever since Tess arrived in Roswell, there's been a major ripple between the Pod Squad, the aliens, and the non-Pod Squad-Maria and Liz. Kyle and his father know of the aliens, they even took in Tess. But Maria and Liz didn't trust Tess. Liz envied the life Tess lived with Max on Antar. She envied how close they'd gotten over the last few months. It wasn't like Tess exactly liked Liz either. Tess had always acted as if she were superior to Liz. And then she killed Alex. Liz knew this from the bottom of her heart. She **knew** Tess killed Alex. She couldn't prove it, yet, but she knew it. This is what caused the rift between Liz and Max. Between Liz and Isabel. Between Liz and Michael. The only one who ever stuck by her was her best friend Maria. Everyone else thought she was jealous and looking for someone to blame. That's what hurt Liz the most. Max put Tess, a girl he barely knew, over Liz. He claimed that he and Liz have a connection or whatever, but Max wouldn't open his eyes wide enough to see what was really going on. Tess had him played. She had all three aliens fooled. She even had sheriff Valenti and Kyle fooled. Only Maria and Liz could see it and that separated them from the group that they once belonged to.

Liz parked near the science building of Roswell High School. She took out her class key and opened the hallway doors. She went to the classroom to find it already unlocked. A light could be seen through the door's blinds. Who on earth would be at school at this time of the night? Oh. Liz cautiously stepped through the door. The person was standing at the last lab table, reading something. Liz eyed him closer. It was Max.

"Max? What are you doing here? It's like 2 something."

Max looked up from his book and saw Liz standing there in the doorway. She looked amazing, almost ethereal. No, not almost. She definitely looked like an angel. But then Max always thought that. "I could ask you the same."

"I come here when I can't sleep. How'd you get in? I'm the only one with a-. Oh." She stopped herself shortly, realizing that Max used his powers to get in.

"So that's how you're so far ahead," Max said. His attempt to lighten the heavy atmosphere around them failed. Liz didn't even smile. She's been on the defensive ever since I told her to leave Tess alone.

"I guess I'll go," Max said despondently. He walked past her stiff form and turned around when he got to the door. "Liz, do you ever think we could be friends again?"

"Will you ever believe me about Tess?" she asked back.

"No," Max's voice was stern.

"There's your answer," Liz retorted.

"You're wrong about her."

"So are you."

"She's not as bad as you make her out to be. If you'd just give her a chance-"

"Give her a chance and what?! Liz was getting angry "And end up like Alex?"

Max took a step closer. "She didn't kill Alex. I understand what you feel like Liz. I lost Alex too. We all lost him. But you can't go around blaming innocent people just because you can't accept the fact that he took his own life."

Liz trembled with anger. She harshly jerked her hand out to the side and an array of glass beakers shattered as the power transmitted from her hand was unleashed. She didn't flinch.

"Liz..." Max was taken aback by her sudden display of power that he had transmitted to her the day he saved her. He had thought it had gone away, but apparently he was wrong.

"Be lucky that wasn't your head," she said severely. She pushed past him and left, leaving Max standing there confused and concerned.

Liz found herself running down the hallway, running to her car, and if she could've, she would've sped down the street, back to her house, back to her room. But she couldn't go home. Energy was coursing through her. It was a feeling that left a bad taste in her mouth. It showed her that she could never fit. She had alien powers but she wasn't one of them, one of the aliens. She was 100 percent human, a human mother, human father, American-born, but had something no other human had. It made her feel very out of place.

Liz climbed through Maria's window. She realized how late, or early, depending on how you took it, it was.

"Maria," Liz whispered.

Maria lay still, her back to Liz.

"Maria," Liz hissed.

Maria could hear Liz's voice, but she didn't want to acknowledge her friend's presence. Just lie very still, and maybe she'll go away.

"Maria!" Liz whispered louder.

Still wrapped in her covers up to her face, Maria groaned and grabbed the clock next to her. When she saw the time, she threw the clock on the floor and groaned again.

"Maria DeLuca, if you don't get up this instant..."

"Frickin'. So early. Can't let ...sleep," was all Liz could get out of Maria's mumbling.

"I need to talk to you," Liz said. Her voice was full of fear. Maria noticed it now that she was fully awake. She turned the lamp on.

Liz's eyes were full of unshed tears.

"You had that dream again, didn't you?" Maria asked soothingly.

Liz broke down right in front of her. It scared and confused Maria. Liz had been coming through her window a lot ever since Alex's death. Maria knew of the recurring dream Liz was having. It was always the same and it always ended on the same unfinished condition. But never had Liz been so vulnerable as to break down into sobs in front of someone. Not even in front of Maria. This couldn't have been just about the dream.

Maria scooted over on her bed and ushered Liz to sit next to her. "What's wrong Liz?"

Liz took in a deep, shaky breath and composed herself long enough to explain what just happened.

"And your power came out, just like that?"

"Not exactly. I kind of willed it to come. I had to do something Maria. I felt like I was going to explode."

"So you exploded a set of glass beakers instead." Normally, Maria would think there was something wrong with this display of anger. But now, now Maria thought it was something good, something almost therapeutic for Liz. Liz had always been the perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect friend, and at one time the perfect girlfriend. That's got to take a toll on your emotions. Maria came up with an idea. They took Liz's car, and Maria drove to the desert and parked at the spot full of cactuses.

She got out and stood with her hands on her hips taking a cleansing breath. "Aim, shoot, fire."

Liz was bewildered. "What?"

"Well, as I see it, you have a lot of built up anger and frustration and if you don't let it out, it'll consume you. Like it did when you decided to go all psycho and sought to piss off some science teachers tomorrow. But there are plenty of cacti out here, and it can't hurt anyone, so let it out."

Liz nodded and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and with each hand flick, she blasted another cactus. When she let out all that she needed to let out, she drove Maria back home and Liz climbed back in her window and went to bed.


End file.
